First Look

Ace Combat is one of the most successful air combat gaming franchises with simulations running on a wide range of platforms. The game is centered around the aerial combat on a different world with different countries and geography, but a great deal of similarity to our own world. Even the aircraft that are operated come from our world, but in the world of Ace Combat, many of the more exotic designs that never made it into production, or in some cases, off the drawing board are available to fly.

Hasegawa first released their new-tooled Su-33 naval Flanker a few years ago, but as with a number of their other subjects, have released the kit in the domain of Ace Combat. Molded in light gray styrene, this kit is presented on six parts trees plus two trees of clear parts. I love the clear tree as it has major clear walls surrounding the canopy and windscreen parts to protect them from damage.

This kit is identical to the original Su-33 release except for the addition of one clear tree containing a articulating display stand. Of course the decal sheet is different as well which we'll look at shortly.

Looking over the model, it is clear that Hasegawa did their homework. The airframe captures numerous distinctive details:

Wing fold detail including the flaps

Horizontal stabilizer fold details

Extended forward chine with canards

Short beaver tail with tail hook

Corrected radome

Molded-in air refueling probe

Twin-wheel nose gear

Among the features in this kit:

Nice cockpit

Positionable canopy

Positionable canards

Positionable speed brake

Weapons options include:

4 x B-8 rocket pods

2 x VER racks for rocket pods

2 x R-27ET Alamo

4 x R-27R Alamo

2 x R-60 Aphid

4 x R-73 Archer

2 x R-77 Adder

The boxart depicts Bort 13 (Yellow 13) which is indeed on the decal sheet. In fact, they provide the unique markings for a number of aircraft from the Aquila Squadron, 156 TFW, Free Eruea Air Force including Borts 004, 021, and 18. A set of generic numbers are also provided to allow you to render other subjects as desired.

The decals provide basic airframe stenciling as well as training round stripes for the R-73 missiles. If you want to bring this kit back into this world, check out the Begemot Su-33 decal sheet here.

This is a really nice looking kit that isn't complex, so this should be an easy build for most modelers. The Flankers have always had some interesting color schemes but the Sea Flankers are especially eye-catching with their blue camouflage patterns. This will be a fun build for the average modeler and provide some interesting opportunities for the AMS modeler that will want to do that little bit of surgery to fold the wings and stabs as well as drop in a resin cockpit. Either way, this Su-33 kit is a welcome addition to scale flight lines everywhere.

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